Public services support staff – including teaching assistants and hospital porters – are doing more than 40 million hours of unpaid overtime a year, says a report from Unison published yesterday. The figure is the equivalent of 25,000 extra public service staff working full time.
It highlights how far workers are prepared to go to keep services running efficiently and the impact of years of job cuts. This is despite the intolerable pressures they face as a result of government-led cutbacks, according to the report We Can’t Go on Like This. The findings are from an analysis of employment data by think tank the Smith Institute. It warns that staff have reached a ‘tipping point’, which could have a knock-on impact on services and local communities.
The report, commissioned by Unison, also includes a survey of nearly 1,000 support staff across the UK working in healthcare (37%), education (35%), local government (19%), the police and justice (4%), and other public services (5%). More than two in five (44%) of the survey respondents, who include auxiliary nurses, cleaners and caretakers, say they are doing unpaid overtime most weeks.
Some are taking on the duties of colleagues who have been made redundant, while others are working beyond their pay grade without the necessary training.
The report highlights that the vast majority (77%) believe they are working harder than a year ago, yet more than a third (35%) say cutbacks mean they are much less productive than before.
Staff feel demoralised and demotivated as a direct result of austerity because of increased workloads, having to do jobs they are unfamiliar with, and because their managers are unsupportive, according to the findings. As a result, nearly seven in ten (68%) respondents, especially those in health (75%) and local government (72%), believe the services they help run are getting worse in delivering for the public.
Some even believe the situation is so bad that there is a safety risk especially to patients in the NHS.The crisis in the workplace for support staff means morale at work is at rock bottom according to four in five (80%) of those who responded, largely because they feel undervalued by their managers.Three in ten (30%) are actively looking to leave their jobs, and another third (33%) are considering doing so.
The report says that workforce cuts have been ‘disproportionately targeted’ at support staff. This includes those working with vulnerable people with learning disabilities or mental health issues. Unison is calling on the government to recognise the important role of frontline staff in delivering public services by investing properly in the jobs needed to deliver high quality results.
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said: ‘Support staff such as healthcare assistants and catering workers are among the lowest paid in public services. ”All too often they’re overlooked by politicians, despite the vital jobs they do. ‘It’s no wonder they feel overworked and undervalued. Many are facing intolerable pressures because of cutbacks, which have triggered staff shortages. ‘The government must commit to funding the jobs needed to guarantee safe, high quality services. A failure to act will undermine standards further and weaken public confidence further still.’
The support staff survey was carried out in spring 2018 and is based on responses from 905 individuals. The survey is part of Unison’s on-going public service champions campaign. • Selina, 47,an information support officer working for a council in the North West, said: ‘I believe in the work I’m doing. But me and my colleagues all work over the hours we’re supposed to.
‘My daughter needs a new bed and I desperately need new work clothes. But every week I look at my bank account and feel despondent.’ • Jeremy, 52, a senior healthcare assistant at a mental health unit in the South West, said: ‘I’ve a real passion for the work I do. But I feel like I’d walk out tomorrow for a job that paid me more money. I’d leave the NHS at the drop of a hat but with my pension and everything I’m totally trapped.’
The context for the survey is the unrelenting impact of austerity. A decade after the financial crash the survey was undertaken against the backdrop of the government’s continuing austerity programme. This impact is particularly noticeable when profiling the numbers working in the public sector and in support staff roles. Staffing cuts have been uneven, with the largest reductions in local government, education and the police force.
Overall, the number of people working in the public services has fallen from 22% of the UK workforce in 2010 to 17% today – a reduction of half a million jobs. The cuts in manpower have been disproportionately targeted at support staff. For example, there has been a 10% cut in the number of people working in NHS property and estates such as caretakers, laundry and catering workers. There has also been significant targeted reduction in the number of support staff working with the most vulnerable, including those with learning disabilities and mental health problems.
In police forces, community support officers have been cut by 40% from 2010 to 2017.
In addition to a reduction in the headcount, public sector pay has fallen in real terms over the past eight years and since 2015 has lagged behind the private sector. Despite the 2018 pay awards in health and local government, it is the longer term downward trend in pay that sets the scene for the survey questions and answers, which address the issue of support staff pay in regard to views on workload, morale and service delivery.
Analysis of the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings highlights the extent to which those performing key support roles in our public services are low paid.
For example, over half (52%) of teaching assistants are low paid (at two thirds of average hourly earnings). In health over a third (37%) of nursing auxiliaries and assistants are low paid, while 80% of school midday and crossing patrol workers are low paid.
Pay cuts at this level are particularly hard for those on low pay with rising bills and little income to spare. These figures are higher still for the number paid below the real living wage. Low pay has forced many public workers to take on extra work. According to the Labour Force Survey around 5% of public sector workers have a second job, compared with 3% for the whole of the labour market, equal to 330,000 workers.
Looking at the different occupations, support jobs have a much greater prevalence of people working more than one job. For example, around 7% of teaching assistants have more than one job. Furthermore, around one in twenty teaching assistants are also seeking additional work.
Low pay alongside the cuts to pay and workforce numbers has also to be contextualised by rising demand. For example, in the education sector pupil numbers have risen by 7% since 2010.
Meanwhile for the NHS, elective general and acute admissions (FFCEs) are up 15% since 2010. The report concludes: ‘The high quality public services we all want are reliant on the efforts, talents and commitment of all staff. If support tasks are not performed then doctors, teachers and police officers can’t do their work: ‘A patient cannot be operated on unless they are transferred from a ward to the theatre, appointments cannot be made and met without secretaries and receptionists.
Yet despite the essential tasks these workers perform, this survey shows the extent to which support staff feel like second class employees within what should be one team. ‘New pay settlements for public sector workers may go some way to rebuilding trust and boosting morale. However, in most sectors more is needed for real wages to catch up with ground lost since 2010.
‘Furthermore, the strength of feeling beyond pay revealed in the survey would suggest fresh efforts are required to improve morale and staff relations. ‘The fact that so many staff felt stressed and not valued by management should be an urgent concern for employers. ‘There are some grounds for optimism. The survey findings make clear the commitment and ethos of public sector workers.
‘They clearly demonstrate that support staff are willing to embrace and adapt to workplace change, including the introduction of new technology. ‘These should be viewed as positives from which to deliver quality public services that meet growing demands and expectations.
‘Nevertheless, if these positives are to built on then the survey would suggest that the starting point would be for government and public sector employers to listen to support workers and fully recognise and value the contribution they make. ‘The widespread lack of employee voice, especially around productivity improvements, is counter-productive, and for senior management not to grasp that is perhaps indicative of a wider industrial relations problem.
‘The warning signs for public service employers and the government are flagged up in this survey. ‘To ignore them will leave public services in an even weaker position. The risk of continuing with the status quo is that the public sector will fall short of its reputation as a good employer and service quality will inevitably suffer as a result.’
